Local area networks are widely used as a mechanism for making available computer resources, such as file servers, scanners and printers, to a multitude of computer users. It is often desirable with such networks to restrict user access to the computer resources in order to manage data traffic over the network and to prevent unauthorized use of the resources. Typically, resource access is restricted by defining access control lists for each network resource. However, as the control lists can only be defined by the network administrator, it is often difficult to manage data traffic at the resource level.
Wide area networks, such as the Internet, have evolved as a mechanism for providing distributed computer resources without regard to physical geography. The Internet Print Protocol (“IPP”) emerged as a mechanism to control access to printing resources over the Internet. However, IPP was replete with deficiencies particularly with respect to administration of a large number of network resources to a large user base. For example, the ability to restrict access to firewall protected network resources is compromised when firewall access ports remain open for extended periods of time, i.e. are open and waiting for network traffic to access them. For example, access to IPP printers cannot be obtained without the resource administrator locating the resource outside the enterprise firewall, or without opening an access port through the enterprise firewall. Whereas the latter solution provides the resource administrator with the limited ability to restrict resource access, the necessity of keeping open an access port in the enterprise firewall exposes the enterprise network to the possibility of security breaches.
Network resource access systems were developed that provide a central mechanism that simplified access to network resources such as printers. The network resource access system typically included a central database for storing information about the printer resources that assisted users in finding and using the desired network resource. Often these systems would rely on a name or description of the location that a user of the system would use to select or locate the physical location of the network resource.
User's of a network resource access system may want to use a network resource that is located nearest their location, especially if the network resource is a printer resource from which the user needs to recover a hard copy document. Modern network terminal devices that are used to access the system are more often being equipped with location collection systems such as GPS. If the central database contains accurate location information, user's can use their current location to find the nearest printer using the central database.
Past systems have relied on street address information or have converted the street address to geographical coordinates prior to storing the information in the database. If a street address has multiple printers in the building, then this type of location information may not be of assistance to user trying to find the closest printer in the building to their current location. User's of the systems would be better served if the database contained more accurate location information.
Managing the location information in the central database may also be a difficult task for systems administrators. Often the user interface used to update or populate the database is not located with the printer, thus obtaining the location of the printer and entering the data are two separate tasks performed by the system administrator. If GPS coordinates are used from a portable GPS transceiver, then the system administrator must walk to the printer with the GPS device, obtain the coordinates and return to the user interface used to update the database to enter the GPS data. This process is prone to error from transcription or selecting the wrong printer. Also, due to the time involved in updating location information in the system, systems administrators may be less likely to provide location information for the devices that they manage.